‘No way’ is Dortmund’s answer to Dembele offers

A year ago he was a 19-year-old who had had an interesting season at Rennes, promising enough for Borussia Dortmund to move in and sign him.

A year later, Ousmane Dembele is one of the Bundesliga’s hottest youngsters, having finished his first season at Dortmund with 10 goals in all competitions, and 12 assists in the championship alone.

Clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are reported to have shown interest in him, none bigger than Barcelona’s who are said to have made a first offer of around 45 million euros.

No way

was the first, laconic answer, Borussia sporting director Michael Zorc gave Die Welt, when asked how possible it is to see the club agree on a deal for the young France international.

What we’ve seen from him was extraordinary, both in his value for the team and his development. You always get the feeling he can do something special, make the difference. He can decide games by himself, even those games he’s not really involved in

Zorc said praising the 20-year-old winger.

Dembele himself expressed his gratitude recently to Thomas Tuchel, his coach at Dortmund last season, and it remains to be seen how much he will continue to evolve as a player next season, under Dortmund’s new coach, Peter Bosz.